On April 20, our daughter, sister, teammate and friend was diagnosed with Leukemia (AML). This cancer is placing her in the hospital for 6 months while she has chemotherapy. Right now her goal is to be able to walk at her senior graduation on June 6. She is determined to beat this cancer with her family, friends and soccer team by her side. We hope this blog will be able to keep our friends and family updated and involved in her journey to 'Kick Leukemia!'

Friday, October 12, 2012

Lexe suffered a bit of a setback today. For the last couple of days Lexe felt okay but not great. This afternoon Lexe started running a fever and it spiked high enough to be told by the oncology clinic to take her to the emergency department at Primary Children's hospital. Once at the emergency room Lexe's fever spiked to 102.7 and her heart rate jumped to around 140 beats per minute. Her vital signs prompted a shock response protocol and they pumped 2 liters of fluids into her in short order. Lexe was also given an Intensive Care Unit consult to see if her condition required admission into the ICU. Blood was drawn from Lexe's central line and cultures were started to see if she has a bacterial infection in her blood. The cultures will take 24 to 48 hours to grow out. After a long stay in the ER, Lexe was admitted inpatient to the cancer unit. Hopefully tonight will be a quite night and Lexe will be able to get some rest.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

It has been awhile since our last post, sorry. Many people have asked for an update so here we go: Lexe concluded her fourth and final round of chemo 12 days ago and rang the completion bell! Her physicians made the decision to send Lexe home with 0 immunities. She has now been home for 12 days and we have all enjoyed our time at home together as a family. Lexe's immunities have been slow to recover. She is having her levels checked twice per week and as of yesterday her ANC is only at 200, which is not yet a safe level. Lexe was scheduled for her final bone marrow aspirate and spinal tap on Wednesday the 10th. However, due to Lexe's lack of adequate immunities, the scheduled procedures have been postponed one week. These two test are going to determine whether on not Lexe is leukemia free. We are all anxious to have the tests done and the final results in our hands.

Lexe has spent her time at home eating, sleeping, organizing her room and doing some light hiking. She has been infection free and her energy levels have been pretty good. Some days are better than others but overall she is doing great. Lexe has reconnected with many of her friends and is excited to have the final tests conducted and her central line removed. Once the line is removed, which will happen about one week after all test results come back "clean", Lexe plans on starting her journey back to soccer. Lexe's body has taken a hit and she is going to face a mountain of work.

Once we have the final test results, we will let everyone know the results. We are all very confident that Lexe has beaten leukemia.